On My Way to Africa!

I did it!! Holy crap: I’m on my way to Africa! I found a bus ticket from Seattle to Vancouver and a reasonably-priced, last-minute ticket leaving from Vancouver, B.C. to freaking Conakry.

I’m a little bit nervous because well, I screwed up big time. My dad is always the one to drop me off at the airport / bus station and he is one of those perpetually late humans. Today was no exception: we were rushing everything.

I tell him we need to leave early so I can withdrawal a bunch of cash because my African friend mentioned on the phone the other day that ATMs aren’t really a big thing there, but converting into Guinean Francs would be no problem. So we leave early-ish. But then we have to stop and buy gas. And then we have to pick up his girlfriend at work so she can come with us. But she’s not quite ready.

We stop at the ATM, but there’s no parking, so he drives around the parking lot while I get my monies. I jump back in the car and we’re off. Sort of. But then I realize I’m starving. We’re near the bus station by now, but can’t seem to find a convenient / quick / open place to grab food. Finally, he pulls into some sort of Asian grocery store and I jump out and grab some sushi and a noodle dish to chow down on on the bus ride to BC.

I get to the register to pay for my food and wouldn’t-ya-know: no debit card. I left it in the ATM. And of course I can’t go back to the ATM or I would miss my bus and even if I could, there’s no way the card would be there.

So… I have a couple hundred bucks cash and a credit card that will be accepted absolutely no where. And I’m off to Africa! Wish me luck.